


Beating the Odds

by atomicSoundwaves



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - The Little Mermaid, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, It didn't follow the plot exactly, M/M, Nagisa's too hard on himself sometimes, Rei's pretty hella, happy ending i swear
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-26
Updated: 2014-04-26
Packaged: 2018-01-20 20:14:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1524143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atomicSoundwaves/pseuds/atomicSoundwaves
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hazuki Nagisa is a mermaid that wants to be human more than anything else. His reason? Well, that's quite a long story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Beating the Odds

**Author's Note:**

> Well, this is my first Free! fanfic, so go easy on me, heh. This was originally a request from a person in Instagram who wanted a short Reigisa mermaid AU, but I guess the entire story just couldn't fit in one chapter. Bear with me, guys, I promise it's going to have a happy ending. 
> 
>  
> 
> Anyways, without further ado, enjoy!

Walking along the shore of the beach, you didn't really know how much you needed the relaxing crash of the waves to assuage your stressed out mind. You slowly and gently breathe in the ocean breeze, taking in the magnificent view before you. The glittering rays of the setting sun reflecting off of the ocean made you want to stay right here forever. Sighing contentedly, you chose to continue your walk with no specific destination in mind. You'll turn back eventually, you thought to yourself. 

Once a particularly large wave crashed onto the shore, you noticed the tint of red it had to it. A strange thing indeed, you thought, seeing as even during a sunset the water was never truly red. You stepped a bit closer to the water, noticing something pink as well. Well, whatever it was, it had the audacity to splash you in the face. It must have been a fish, since it looked like a fin, or perhaps a tail.

A rather beautiful tail, if you may add. It resembled a mermaid's tail, the ones you had seen in movies. Cutting your trail of thought short, you see more red. It looked very similar to blood, if you were not mistaken. Suddenly, a hand shot out of the water, grabbing your wrist and forcefully pulling you into the ocean. 

Well there goes your favorite shirt, you thought. You open your eyes quickly, a blonde head of hair catching your attention. This time, your eyes completely shoot open, despite the burning sensation from the salt water. You instantly ceased all of your movements once your mind fully registered the gorgeous fuchsia eyes staring right at you. They were full of fear, trembling as if they were lost. You began to feel something burning in your chest. Oh right, you need to breathe. Your head shot up, and you immediately swam right back up to the surface of the ocean, coughing and gasping for air. You allowed yourself to take in large breaths for a minute, forgetting the events that happened just a moment ago. You were dizzy for a while, but you willed yourself calm down and relax, just before jumping at the sudden splash of water right next to you.

A boy. It was a blonde boy, who you just now realized was crying. He gently grabbed both of your hands in his and choked out a very quiet sob. Genuinely concerned, you decided to make an attempt at prying information from him. "Are you alright?" You asked gently. He shook his head quickly, burying his head in the crook of your neck. Although foreign, the action didn't make you draw back. Before you could ask anything else, however, a wave had forcefully pushed both of you to shore, the blonde boy now on top of you. He's shaking violently, pulling himself closer to you as if he'd known you your entire life. 

"Why on earth are you out in the ocean so late?" You inquired. He seemed to have ignored you completely. Pulling himself away from you, he stopped breathing once he saw his legs. His eyebrows furrowed, fuchsia orbs filling with confusion. The boy shook his head furiously, attempting to say something but failing. "Are you able to speak?" You decided to ask. He almost nodded, but he caught himself and shook his head instead. His tears gently fell from his eyes onto the sand, mixing in with the sea water surrounding both of you. 

He stood, unsteady, as if just learning how to walk. Your attention shifted from his face to his sides, eyes widening in shock. Two deep cuts were bleeding profusely. You immediately stood up as well, forgetting how to breathe in the process. You couldn't form coherent sentences at the moment, so you looked back into his eyes instead. Those gorgeous fuchsia orbs were no longer glowing bright, and the boy feel to his knees. His hands found the wet sand, gripping it tight as if it was the only thing keeping him alive.

His breathing became ragged, his tears falling slowly, before he, too, fell to the ground. 

\--

"I'll be fine, Mako-chan, I'm just going for a swim," you giggled. Makoto didn't seem convinced, and you really didn't expect him to be. After all, you were lying to your best friend once again. You weren't going for a swim, you never really did just that. Instead, you were going to the surface to admire the humans. At least, that's what you wanted to do anyways. 

"I don't know, Nagisa, going out for a swim doesn't seem like a smart thing to do right about now. It's almost sunset, and you know it's never safe after dark," he chastised. Typical Makoto, always acting like your mother. Honestly, it didn't even bother you in the slightest. You were glad your friend cared about you, but sometimes you really thought that he worried too much. "Mako-chan, I promise I'll be back before dark," you told him. "Now let me swim, you big goof," you chuckled.

He grunted in response. "Fine. But if you don't stay true to your word, I'm telling Rin." His response made shivers run down your spine. There was nothing wrong with Rin, but he could be pretty scary sometimes. Okay, really scary. You swam off after bidding Makoto farewell, beginning your journey to the surface. 

This had to be your favorite time of the day. The rays of sunshine traveled down to the ocean floor, making everything look golden and beautiful. But even though the ocean was quite wonderful, you couldn't help but feel a bit bored of the same scenery all the time. It got a little tiring, making you want to be anywhere else whenever you were awake. You found that maybe you just needed a change of scenery. Perhaps also it wouldn't hurt to get out of the ocean, but you know that'll never happen. "I'd give anything to be human," you muttered to yourself. 

Actually, it's not just because of the scenery anymore. A few trips ago, you had spotted a man, a sole man, walking along the shore. Your breath had hitched, your heartbeat increased, and your eyes widened. "Beautiful," you had whispered unintentionally. You clasped a hand to your mouth. His head snapped to your direction, but before he could spot you, you dove under the water. You gripped the rock you were leaving on tightly, squealing quietly to yourself. His hair was the nicest shade of blue, and he wore red, um... what were those things again?

You shook your head to try and rid yourself of the pointless question. Instead, you thought about his gorgeous amethyst eyes, his relaxed face, and everything about him. You couldn't hold back the smile that took over your features. 

But that smile was soon replaced with a frown. You couldn't be with him. He was a human, and your were a mermaid. He'd just think you were a freak. You felt so upset, all you wanted right now was to crawl into a hole and die. You could only think of one thing that made you happy. You stuck your head out of the water and slowly rose onto the rock. You looked to your left, and that's when you saw him. Granted, it was only the back of his head, but it was something. To you, that was enough to make you smile.

Thinking back on it now, the entire moment was quite depressing, but ever since then you were determined to see him again. Like today, you were feeling quite giddy at the thought of finding him once more. But there seemed to be a problem at the moment, you noticed. 

You're lost.

Fantastic. There's not a sea creature in sight and you just had to get lost in your thoughts again. Great, now you can't see him today. Good job, Nagisa, you have superb navigation skills. Sighing in defeat, you swam down to the ocean floor and took a seat. Feeling more dejected than ever, you flopped onto your back and just laid there for a while. Sunset was quickly approaching and you had no idea where you were. Makoto is definitely going to kill you.

Closing your eyes, you decided to rest up for a while. 

Apparently you didn't just doze off, you knocked out for a couple of minutes, startled out of unconsciousness by a soothing yet sinister voice. "Oh dear, troubled are we?" It had inquired. You looked around, having yet to locate the origin of the voice. Nervousness took over and you were left quite unsettled by the anonymous murmur. Realizing that it may not even be in the light, you decided to speak to it. "Who are you? C-come out and show yourself," you shouted weakly.

"It's alright, don't be afraid of us. We're just here to help," came the slow reply. Wait, us? There wasn't just one... thing? Goodness, your curiosity is getting the better of you by the minute. Just what on earth is it that's trying to talk to you? Wait a second, help? 

"H-hold on, help me? With what?"

"Well, with your issue of course. You seemed to have fallen in love with a human."

You turned around quickly to see two eels staring right at you. They were dark blue and each had mismatched eyes. Their lower jaws stuck out a bit more than they should, but you didn't mention anything about their appearances whatsoever. They gave off a bad aura that practically screamed "run, you fool!" 

"It's not love," you defend. Oh, what a blatant lie. Those eels look like they're about to crack up.

"Not love?" One of them says. He moves closer to you, and the other mirrors his movements almost perfectly. "Honestly, what do you know about love?" The other asks. You're stunned. Seriously, how did these two even know about that? They shouldn't, that's for sure. It's getting you quite frustrated that they think you need help. Who needs them?! They're just a pair of nosey sea creatures!

"How can a mermaid quite possibly win over the affection of a human being?"

Your eyes widened. You looked away from the eels, down to your tail. It was a bright fuchsia, exactly like your eye color. But it was almost mutant-like. Why did they have to bring this up? Of all the things you wanted to hear at the moment, this was most certainly not one of them. But it still didn't stop your mind from thinking about it. Seriously though, what could a man as perfect as him ever want with a creature as weird as you? You're not beautiful, you're not even attractive in your own eyes. If you can't ever learn to love yourself, then what makes you think anyone else ever will?

Oh great, tears. Just what you needed. As if your constant self loathing wasn't enough. You tried to hold back a sob, but everything just escaped far too quick for you to even attempt to stop. Sinking down to the ground, you fisted your hands in your hair. Look at you, you're a mess. You have bright scales, a tail, pink eyes, and blonde hair. Hell, you live in the fucking ocean for Neptune's sake. You're nothing but a monstrosity. A horrible, worthless creature. There's no way he'd even want to get to know you. For who could ever learn to love a mistake?

"Follow us," you heard, "and he will make all of your desires come true."

\--

You awoke with a jolt, gasping for air. Of all the things you could've dreamt about, why did it have to be that? Sighing deeply, you sat up straight. 

Wait.

Where the hell were you? This wasn't home, this was nowhere near home. Your head kept shooting in all directions, attempting to take in as much of your surroundings as possible. It began to get difficult to breathe in this place. It felt nothing like ocean water. All of a sudden, reality hit you like a brick to the chest. 

You're on land.

Your heart almost stopped. Why are you on land? And just where are you exactly? Maybe you should call out to see if anyone's around. You actually almost tried until yet another thought resurfaced in that dense head of yours.

Oops, you almost forgot. You had lost your voice. It's a real shame, you're going to miss breaking out into random musicals with everyone all the time. You placed your fingers on your throat, as if to further prove how much you'll miss your voice. You curled in on yourself, hugging your legs to your chest as much as you could.

Hold on.

You have legs. Holy shit, you have legs! You wiggled your toes and giggled silently. You quickly threw the covers off of you and attempted to stand and walk. Granted, you did stumble quite a but and your hips hurt like hell, but you couldn't find it in yourself to care. 

Okay yeah, you did care. You definitely did care about your throbbing hips way more than walking. You gasped as the pain got way worse by the second and chose to lay back down instead. Letting out a sigh of relief as the pain subsided, you heard something click. Suddenly, someone was standing right in front of you.

Oh shit.

"Oh good, you're awake," he said cheerfully. He smiled at you and walked closer. Sitting on the edge of the... thing (yeah, you don't really know what this is either), he stared into your eyes. "Are you alright? You really had me worried at the beach," he stated, obviously concerned. You almost tried to speak again but quickly stopped before you made a fool out of yourself. That's something you most certainly did not want to do at all. Especially not in front of him.

"Oh, my mistake. You can't speak, can you?" You shook your head. "Well alright then," he said. He rose from his spot on the (fuck it, just call it a very long resting place. Screw naming shit) and retrieved what seemed to be a large pad of paper and another thing. Damn, land sure is confusing. "Here, you can just write what you want to say." He handed you the items and you quickly wrote a response. You often liked to write words in the sand when you were still a mermaid. It helped pass the time, plus it was quite fun.

'I'm alright,' you wrote. He let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness, I've been worried sick all day. You had two very deep cuts on your hips, so I stitched them up for you. Do you need anything? A glass of water, perhaps?" Honestly, this man fretted over you like a mother would over her child. You wrote down that yes, a glass of water would be lovely at the moment. He retrieved it with speed, and when he returned you decided to formally introduce yourself.

'My name is Nagisa, by the way.'

He smiled and set the glass of water on the table next to you. "Well it's very nice to meet you, Nagisa. My name is Rei."


End file.
